I will leave you with one last quote “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”.

God Bless you both.

But — from me I will say this:

As for the death penalty — unless DNA proves someone else committed the crime, the law is the law. He was convicted and received a sentence. The sentence then should be carried out.

I realize that the death penalty is not the deterrent that it could be — and that’s because it’s not executed immediately. Should it be done in a timely fashion – not 10 to 20 years down the road – I believe it would work better as a deterrent. However, due to liberalization of our courts, the punishment is not doled out in a way for it to be deterrent.

I cannot understand the personal side, and did not say in my post that I did. I had an opinion and I posted about it from my perspective.

I am sorry for your losses.

I am writing you in response to your comments posted on your web site about my family. You may or may not already know this —- but my father, Elias Syriani was executed on Nov. 18th 2005 one week before Thanksgiving. I am deeply sadden that there are people out there like you with such a judgmental mind and hardened heart as yourself. With all due respect, this did not happen to you or your family and therefore, it is impossible for you to completely understand our plea. The only thing we were asking was for the governor was to spare my father’s life… NOT TO LET HIM GO FREE! You mentioned that you are not a diehard fan of the death penalty but believe that it is a legitimate punishment in some cases. It is important for you to know that this is not a case solely based on emotion…. In fact, this is a very unique case that should be carefully looked at and all around the nation people are starting to see that executing my father was the TRUE INJUSTICE. If you would do some additional research on my father’s case and the legal aspects involved you would see that he did not have a fare trial nor did he have adequate legal representation back in 1990. The domestic violence groups and leaders that were against my father 15 years ago rallied with us the last few months in support of clemency. This was a strong statement to the public that domestic violence crimes should be treated differently. Do you know that my father was the first and last man to receive the death penalty in Mecklenburg County, however murder crimes continued through the years between 1990- 2005. I believe the death penalty was not a deterrent for these domestic violence acts, yet my father was the only one to suffer the utmost consequence. Where does that leave us Jo?
Where would the people be if we left it up to the law, which only sees black and white, and not the true circumstances behind a horrible tragedy. Remember we are the people that elect officials such as the governor to intervene and review case by case before caring out an execution. In Governor Easley’s refusal to spare my father’s life he said “After careful review of the facts and circumstances of this crime and conviction I find no convincing reason to overturn the jury verdict affirmed by the state and federal courts”… Jo, this is the exact same response he has given to all his refusals to grant clemency. It is sad that he is a coward and would lean towards the politics involved rather that doing the right thing.
There is not a day that goes by that we do not think about our mother. She was a wonderful person and would have wanted us to live a life full of forgiveness and compassion to others. Now, unfortunately, the governor of North Carolina has burdened us again with the task of forgiven him for killing my father and mending our broken hearts. If you would educate yourself on the details of this story, I promise you that you would think very differently about this case and the laws that are there to protect “we the people”. We were only asking for mercy for ourselves. And instead, we have been victimized yet again. From your web site, you seem like a pretty decent person. I only hope that you try and look at this topic with an open mind, and leave the judgement up to God, and not the governor of NC.

With all respect and regards, Rose Syriani